Page 2 - E-Books

Dharma Books

“People often say that the way Buddhism teaches constantly about the suffering of living beings is unpleasant to them and makes them so depressed that they get no joy out of listening to the Dhamma. They feel as if the sufferings and discontentment being talked about are joining forces with the sufferings and discontentment already inside them, making them despondent and sad. If that weren’t enough, the basic principles of the Buddha’s teaching – the Four Noble Truths – start out with suffering as their primary theme, since that’s what the religion teaches about far more than anything else. When people say things like this, it shows that they haven’t had enough training in the religion to understand its true aims. The fact that Buddhism teaches about suffering is completely in line with the way things are. It is in keeping with the name ‘Noble Truths’. These truths are the religion’s basic principles. They’re true. The Buddha was a person who truly knew. This is why he was able to point out the lacks and deficiencies in living beings – for the sufferings we experience all have deficiencies as their basic cause...”

“Once the mind has been well-cleansed so that it’s constantly radiant, then when we’re in a quiet place, without any sounds – for instance, late in the still of the night – even if the mind hasn’t gathered in samadhi, we find that when we focus on that centre of awareness, it is so exceedingly delicate and refined that it’s hard to describe. This refinement then becomes like a radiance that spreads all around us in every direction. Nothing appears to be making contact with the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and feeling at that moment, even though the mind hasn’t gathered into the factors of samadhi. Instead, this is the firm foundation of the mind that has been well-cleansed and displays a striking awareness, magnificence, and sensitivity within itself...”

“In order to be principled and methodical in your training, keep your awareness constantly with the body. Keep mindfulness focused there and use wisdom to investigate within the sphere of the body. The more you investigate the body until you understand it clearly, the more sharply you will understand the affairs of feelings, memory, thought-formations, and consciousness, because all these things are whetstones for sharpening wisdom step by step. It’s the same as when we bail water out of a fish pond: the more water we bail out, the more clearly we’ll see the fish. Or as when clearing a forest: the more vegetation we cut away, the more space we’ll see. When you use wisdom to contemplate in this way, the currents of the heart will become plain...”

“Training the heart to attain happiness is the way that all the Buddhas proclaimed to be the right and true way. When our hearts never have time to rest and attain calm, they are not fundamentally different from those of animals. But when our hearts rest, relax and receive training, we will be able to see the harmful affects of thinking and imagining, and turbulence they cause in the heart. Then we will come to see the value of a calm heart. Once we have attained a state of mental calm, we will have reached the first stage of Dhamma, which will lead us steadily onwards. In other words, we will have a firmly established faith in the principles of Dhamma...”

“Buddhism is derived from practice. The Buddha himself practised until he fully understood the true nature of Dhamma; only then did he begin to teach others. Buddhists, therefore, understand the importance of practising meditation and training themselves according to the teachings. When they are not put regularly into practice, the knowledge and understanding gained from learning will not bring satisfactory results. So you should learn about and practise the moral precepts until they become higher morality, and learn and practise all the different levels of wisdom until you reach the level of higher wisdom. You must then practise until you truly reach freedom from dukkha and escape from the round of repeated birth and death. Because of that, practice is the most important part of Buddhism...”

“The heart is pre-eminent. Nothing surpasses the heart in importance. The business of the heart is therefore extremely pressing and imperative. All things originate from the heart – just this much is enough to shake the entire physical world. Even the slightest motion must originate in the heart. All things have the heart as their basis. Nothing but the heart can discern all the various phenomena. Since nothing else is capable of this, we must try to understand the heart’s essential knowing nature...”